The Sarcastic, Depressing, and Other Adventures of This Is An Alias
by xXYamgirlXx
Summary: "I turned to insanity for comfort, but it gets lonely without someone to wallow in it with you" The story of the person who lost it all, her identity, history, and even her life, and yet remains sarcastic. T for violence, swearing, death, and all that happens in social situations
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: If I did own Naruto a lot more characters would be dead...but i don't...**

**AN: Updated first chappy, fixed some errors and the original chappies 1-3 are all one to make it longer...**

Chapter 1

We had been sitting in the same positions, or in Shensu's case, leaning, for an hour and forty minutes of the last two hours. The first twenty minutes were spent chatting about inconsequential things, and how it was undeniably predictable that we ended up on the same team.

We had all lived on the streets together after all. Orphaned through unfortunate and uncertain circumstances. We were not at all blood related, but we had grown close. The academy was easy compared to how we had learned even advanced techniques through stalking and just being there in general. Minko had her wind/water ice combo, Shensu his water/earth plant combination, he said he didn't know where it came from, but our pasts were seedy enough already so we left it at that.

I had my fire, their friendship, my intelligence, my insanity, and my random assortment of weapons I had collected over time. It was possible for me to use lightning as my secondary element, but I preferred to only use it with my katana.

I always got shit in the academy for only wearing comfortable clothing that was easy to move in, my trademark black floor-length coat, my baggy pants that tied off at the knee, and my loose transparent shirt that left my black sports bra and six pack on show. It was always all black until a fight.

Today I had no weapons, counting on our teacher being who I thought it was. Minko was wearing her big light grey-blue parka coat with long pants of the same color. Shensu was wearing all browns and greys. Funny how much our outfits reflected our eye color, Shensu's being brown, mine black-grey, and Minko's grey. We all wore different variants of the same shinobi sandals. Mine black and theirs blue.

Minko and I had been played a demented version of Monkey-in-the-Middle with Shensu, when I got bored enough to steal one of his kunai, leap onto one of the desks across from Minko and shout at her to catch and thrown it. It flipped in mid air so it was handle first when she caught it.

We had been doing this without screwing anything up until twenty minutes in when Shensu gave up and we continued throwing. We chatted as Shensu slowly sunk into the floor out of boredom. Eventually he was just hair poking out of the hardwood flooring.

"Oi Shensu"

"What do you want Phoenix?" Came his muffled reply.

"It's been two hours and 50 minutes. He should be here any minute, might wanna get outta the floor."

In response he only sunk further. Minko spoke next.

"You say he'll be here any minute, but how would you know?"

"Judging by the lateness, I'd say that the person who we were assigned is Hatake Kakashi" I replied.

"Who?"

"C'mon Minko you lived on the street just as long as I did." I replied, doing a mental face palm, if I had done a real one, a Kunai would've torn through my arm. Almost as if to save me from explaining, the topic of our conversation walked in.

Sure enough, it was exactly who I thought it would be. His visible eye made a confused expression, or as much as the one eye could. Minko caught her kunai and put it in her pouch with her other kunai. She continued to sit there staring at her hands while our new sensei simply shifted his eye between us. Eventually Shensu came up behind him and as he leisurely spun, disappeared again. Kakashi just barely saw the tips of his hair.

"Guess that answers my question." he stated with a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Yep" I said boredly. I stood up as Shensu rose out of the floor at the front of the classroom. Minko followed suit.

Ten minutes later after all greetings and formalities, we were all up on the roof. Kakashi Sensei began with his typical and well known intro. After that Shensu began his intro.

"I enjoy gardening and cooking, but hate the shitty stove and microwave we have in our shitty apartment." He finished statement with a sigh, as he referred to the little apartment that had taken us forever to buy.

"I love anything to do with water" Minko began quietly. "But I hate being forced to live in a constant state of uncleanliness." Just like Shensu, she finished with a sigh. My turn.

"I myself love fire, adrenaline rushes, fire, and myself." I stated semi-sarcastically. "I hate people with intent to harm me or my friends," I glanced fondly at them as I said this, "and the insomnia I get when I experience my adrenaline-related withdrawal, which is only insomnia." I finished staring at my sensei. He looked at us.

"You guys will have a survival exercise on the training grounds at 5:30 A.M. tomorrow, I advise against eating breakfast, you will probably throw up." He stated boredly.

"Is that an order?" I said neutrally before he could leave or continue.

"Yep. See you tomorrow." He finished with a one-eye smile.

"Damn." stated Shensu flatly.

"He's the one who has to deal with me hungry." I said as I stared at Shensu.

"Let's head home then," said Minko stolidly.

That night over dinner I explained bell testing to my teammates. We devised a plan for tomorrow; they asked me if I was going to be all right going without food. I decided it was Kakashi's problem for making me not eat.

We arrived a few minutes late than what he said, at my suggestion, two hours late. And he got there an hour after we did, as I suspected, if he knew he didn't care. His excuse was that he had been walking toward his destination when a crazy mugger had jumped out at him in an attempt at stealing, and he had been forced to beat the shit outta the guy. At least in my vocabulary that what he said. When he arrived and explained the condition of the test, we have to get the bells, there are only two so someone fails, etcetera, we all stood up and halted our conversation.

When he said to begin, my teammates scattered. I crouched as I was engulfed in flames.

My hair gained a red streak. My irises became red on the edges and orange towards the center. I stood fully armed, my katana on my back and my short sword on my hip. I don't need a hand sign, I simply stand and focus my chakra, the air fills with small flames as I take a deep stance and my open hands fill with fire. Kakashi sensei appears rather surprised that I can do any of this, and then he reminds himself that I would've had to learn things like this to survive on the streets.

"I should warn you before hand, that I tend to hulk out and gain insane amounts of chakra when I get hungry." I stated calmly. I exhaled; the fight began.

I ran at him, every punch kick and block surrounded by flames. Though I could tell he was obviously far more proficient in straight up taijutsu, the flames made him keep his distance. To solve this, I pulled out my katana and proceeded to shoot fireballs off the blade while at the same time attacking. Eventually after failing with that I began to use the extended flame as a whip style weapon, He still dodged almost every attack.

I smiled when I noticed his pattern change; signaling that he could sense Shensu underground, tunneling around after him, waiting for an opening. I finally landed a hit, though small; it stunned him enough for Shensu to begin his attack. The ground opened beneath him, as he fell it filled with water, he made contact, using chakra to stay afloat. Minko began her attack to attempt to encase his feet in water. He leapt out of the chasm right into my next plan.

I could feel it, the energy, the chakra, the violent urges and restlessness flooding my system. As Cereberus, my pet three headed dragon saber-toothed moose awoke in my stomach, as my friends had named it.

Kakashi leapt right into my enormous shockwave of my two element affinities, when it cleared he was standing there, sharingan uncovered and unphased.

"I suppose you're hungry now then...and I suppose the whole thing before was just stalling." He still held an air of disinterest.

"You guess correctly." I say with my trademark insanity grin, my voice filling with excitement.

"I never got to read my book. Damn."

We all join in now, attacking in perfect synchronization that can only be learned through spending an almost painful amount of time together. My attacks carry the most weight, and long after my teammates are tired I am bursting with violent intent and energy. Kakashi sensei dodges with even more proficiency than before, with use of his sharingan, but he never copies our techniques. Eventually I get slightly bored and frustrated. His own attacks are limited to kunai and shuriken; he is obviously playing with us. Time to play my trump. I randomly shout to my teammates:

"THE PEAR GREW EYEBROWS, BITCHES!" Kakashi stares and furrows his eyebrows. Minko and Shensu immediately take the offensive, exchanging blows in front of me. Kakashi can probably see right through the idea of this formation, but it doesn't matter. Before he can realize what it was meant for, similar little balls of fire fill the air like before.

My friends jump into the safety of the surrounding trees and out of the clearing. I pull out my katana, go whip mode again and this time, I aim low.

Kakashi jumps. I quickly close my left fist, the one that's not holding my katana, causing all the little flames close to my sensei to completely engulf in a spherical prison. I hold him there, and then use my fire to slowly grab the bells and toss them to my partners-in-crime.

We are sitting in the hokage's office, waiting for his decision on whether or not we should receive anywhere from a D to B rank mission, due to our evident amount of power, though we know he was joking when he said B ranks were included in the possible pool, seeing as we beat Kakashi sensei only because he was going easy on us as we were barely Genin. We end up with a C rank, escorting a group of civilians to the Tsuchigumo clan village.

As soon as we are out of close proximity to the village, two thieves immediately attack us. Kakashi does his one eyed smile when I shout my trademark:

"THE PEAR GREW EYEBROWS, BITCHES!" Minko begins throwing icicles at our attackers while Shensu burrows, when he gets under their feet he summons vines to try and trap them. The air fills with fire, they jump, and I catch them. I throw them quite a good distance and leave them. We spend the rest of the insane walk with the air filled with the same small little flames just out of laziness.

When we return, the missions get progressively more difficult, the third seems surprised by our progress after only six months of being ninja. I have gained another form in combat, though it is not completely developed, it focuses on shadow manipulation. I have added another short sword on my other hip and two smallish daggers on the front of my sword sheath. Shensu has refined his ability to grow random plants, and can grow random plants that bear fruit for food on missions, he managed to trick us into eating cactus pear fruits once, a mistake I don't care to make again. Minko began carrying a hammer to use as a weapon, and refined the art of water-bubble-fishing. We all improved greatly on our element manipulation abilities. The chunin exams were literally in another week.

We were called into the hokage's office to discuss what we were going to do for the exams.

"I realize you are all very confident in your abilities, But I'm afraid I can't let you progress from here, at least not as rookies." The third stated, matter-of-factly.

Everyone else in the room flinched; I simply stared and tilted my head like a bird.

"Why?" It fell out of my mouth.

"You three are too powerful and may make the other villages feel threatened. Especially since you are rookies, and are more powerful than quite a few chunin, yet have very little experience compared to them. We also cannot hide behind any information on your pasts and even you don't know where you abilities come from. It's a pity that we lose such power but we have already received threats from Sunagakure. Your very existence threatens the alliance." His expression remained neutral.

"So should we wait for the next exam?" I say with my head still tilted.

"The odds are not in your favor for ever progressing." The third replied.

"I decided instead of forfeiting the hard earned peace, the better option would be for you to have a choice." He stated, as if this encounter had already been thought up and planned.

"I'm listening." I state, evenly.

"I decided that you three should either remain genin for as long as you are ninja, or defect from the village and become missing-nin. He said this lightly, nearly flinching at the end.

Everyone's, except mine and Kakashi-sensei's, jaw dropped. I simply stood there, straightened my head, looked everyone in the eye, saw his point of view, and agreed.

"I will give you tonight to decide, be ready with an answer in the morning, if you should choose to defect, you faces will be wiped of all records, all memories and files will be destroyed. You will no longer exist." With that the meeting was over, and we were dismissed.

We were sitting around our shabby table in our "shitty" apartment. Minko sighed.

"What should we do?" She asked, almost dejectedly.

"I can't even imagine what to do." Shensu replied to her question, eyes glazed over with sadness and thought.

"I think we should defect." I stated, almost whispering and gazing off towards the far wall. They both looked at me, not even surprised anymore. They looked at each other then resumed their original poses.

"I think it would be better if we stay…" Minko began, her voice slowly lowering in volume until she just stopped.

"I think this is a hell of a shitty situation" Shensu whom with we all agreed, stated, the only one to use his full voice in over ten minutes.

"If we stay genin, we will most likely never get a better apartment." I said neutrally.

"If we defect we will end up with most likely similar lodgings." Minko nearly sighed the words. Shensu's head perked up at the words.

"Only if we live in a town or city." He said, eyes finally bright.

"Are we supposed to live in a cave or something?" I state dryly.

"Exactly! I could carve one! It will be HUGE!" He nearly shouted the last word.

"Sure. Why the hell not? It'll be interesting." I say, too exhausted to continue. Minko not wanting to ruin her friend's excitement simply shrug-nodded.

We saw the hokage in the morning. He guessed our answer without much effort; knowing that we had wished for freedom for a long time, back when were living on the streets.

"That it then?" Nothing but seriousness in my voice.

"All you have to do now is disappear." He said this as he gathered up all documents pertaining to us three, to be locked away and forgotten until we were all long dead.

We disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This chapter's much less plot filled than the first. I REMIND ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY READS THESE TO REVIEW!EVEN IF ITS CRITICISM!****_ESPECIALLY IF ITS CRITICISM!_**

Chapter 2

I sat, stewing in boredom, in our new mountain hideout, which had just been carved out thanks to Shensu. I sighed, took off my Konoha headband and looked at my now legitimate, partners-in-crime. we put our headbands in a box and tried to forget about them.

"What now?" Minko asked quietly.

"Not sure." Shensu replied ruffling her hair. It had taken three days to find a suitable place for our hideout. There had been no trouble on the way. We had edited my coat to more of a cloak now, it had a hood, we all wore identical ones, all black. Minko ditched her heavy coat in favor of a slightly heavier cloak than the rest of us. Without the hood to hide it in she wore her now obviously long and curly brown hair down and around her face.

"We need a name for our group." I said looking up. "Better yet new names for ourselves."

"Why?" Minko said, confused.

"We no longer exist, by changing our appearance we become different, but with different names anyone who thinks they recognize us will think that we may just look similar." I continued.

"Okay" Shensu agreed.

"We should take some to think about our names, we may have to change them again so think of three different ones." They nodded at my request.

Thirty minutes later we were ready to discuss possible names.

"I'll start" Began Shensu. We nodded.

"My three are: Kusuyama, Tsuri, and Tsuru. My first will be Tsuru." He finished.

"Bit plant heavy." I commented as i raised my eyebrow. All he did to reply was look at me, no particular emotion shining through his mask of stoicism.

"I'll go next." Minko's feminine voice stated.

"I will be Umi first, my next will be tori, them Tsunami." We nod as she finishes.

"Alright Tsuru and Umi, You will now know me as Senshi. If our should be blown I will then be known as Kagemiko or Chime." I said this while emulated a sophisticated tone of voice and pretending to swirl a wineglass in left hand. They sweat dropped. Umi's mouth opened and then closed.

"What guys? Now that we've defected I can give in to the imminent tide of insanity that preys on irrational side of my mind." I finished with my trademark insane grin.

"At least someone here still has a sense of humor." Tsuru gave me a worried smile as regained his composure.

"Ph-Senshi We should probably go shopping for food. Right Tsuru?" Umi suggested, getting us back to our situation.

"Yep" I stated now beginning to zone out.

"Uh-huh" Said Tsuru, doing the same. I mentally began to drill our new aliases into my head, but leaving room for their real names.

"Yeah" I repeated.

"Your right." Sh-Tsuru's response came again and unfocused.

"I know I'm right…" My voice trailed off.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND GET OFF YOUR ASSES TO HELP GO BUY FOOD OTHER THAN PLANTS!" Came Umi's fierce and irritated reply.

"That was very un-Minko like of you." This was Tsuru's genius observation.

"I'm Umi now." She stated this blatantly, with one eyebrow in an immaculate arc.

xXx

"LONGANS, PASSION FRUITS, BANANAS, AND PLANTAINS! GET YOUR TROPICAL FRUIT HERE! HORNED MELONS, TAMARILLOS, AND MANGOSTEENS! AND DONT FORGET KIWIS!" Shouted a voice close-by. It had an almost exotic accent.

"Must be close to the market then." remarked Tsuru.

"MEATS! GET YOUR MEATS HERE!"

"SPINACH, KALE, AND ALL LEAFY GREENS!"

"BREAD AND BAKED GOODS!"

"ALL FOR A LOW PRICE!" The over all clamor of the market was welcome, after the long walk to this dreary quiet town. It was a relief to see people.

"I'll get the groceries. Sh-...Tsuru you should come help me."

"WEAPONS!" Umi's orders were in perfect timing.

"Umi, how much money do we have?" My voice sounded on edge. I wanted those weapons.

"Here" She handed me a small bag similar to her's which she pulled out of the recesses of her coat, but smaller. I dashed away towards the voice.

"WEAPONS! WHOLE ASSORTMENTS!" The voice shouted again.

"Good morning shoujo." greeted the cheery old man running the weapons stall. "What are you looking for?"

"Anything small enough to fit in with my outfit fully armed." I replied gesturing to the nearly obscene amount of weapons I had on me.

"Try these and maybe this…" He trailed off, unsurprised at my arsenal, as he handed me two throwing knives and two tight arm bands I was able to store them in up my rather big sleeves. The other object was a cracked black leather wrist band. When I questioned him about it he simply told me to undo the clasp. I gasped as it resized itself into a full whip.

"Like it huh?" Came the old mans cheery voice.

"Yeah…How much for these?" I said nearly zoning out as I admired the sleek black whip.

I met up with my friends as we walked the deserted road back to our hideout. they had done plenty of shopping with mostly items that wouldn't parish except for fruits and vegetables at Tsuru's request.

"What should we call ourselves?" I asked, unfocused.

"What?" The others looked at me.

"Our group. What should we call our group?" I asked now looking at them. We spent the next few minutes in silence.

"How 'bout Tasogare?" Came Tsuru's thoughtful response.

"Somehow i feel like that's kinda copying…" I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"How?" Umi asked.

"I don't know. Ask Senshi." Came Tsuru's sarcastic reply.

"I was." Stated Umi, dryly.

"Akatsuki." I said

"What?"

"A group almost entirely made up of S-class missing-nin. Their numbers never exceed ten, as of now their goals are unknown." I finish my explanation

"Oh" That was Shen-Tsuru.

"You remember the Uchiha massacre right when we graduated the academy?"

"Yeah I remember…" Mi-...Umi trailed off.

"Uchiha Itachi, The guy who killed his whole clan, is part of the group." I finish, again.

"Shit." Stated Tsuru, nearly surprised.

"I second that comment." Umi commented.

"How 'bout Mayonaka then?" Tsuru suggested, back on track.

"Sure."

"Why the hell not?" And with that we entered our lovely safe house.

xXx

I took of my bracelet, smirking as it grew. CRACK! Tsuru and Umi shot up. They had been lying in each other's arms and had slept rather late for my liking, as I could not cook for shit unless you count sandwiches and burnt things, and I was hungry.

"HOLY SHIT!" Shouted Tsuru, still on the couch.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!" now almost intrigued by my whip, I smirked.

"I second that comment." Umi said, slightly irritated at ending up on the floor, which was at this time, still just stone.

"The weapons stand at the market. It resizes itself into a black leather wristband. I also got throwing daggers with two armbands to hide them up my sleeves." I finished with a smirk.

"Damn." Tsuru starred.

"I second that comment, again."

Tsuru was cutting pineapple on the counter, one of the fruits they got from the tropical fruit guy at the market.

"God I love pineapple." I stated at the smell of the delicious fruit.

"We know, that's why we got it." Umi said, obviously happy at the smell too. We had pineapple and toast for breakfast that morning.

"I can't believe it's already been two months." I mumbled through my full mouth.

"I can't believe we haven't put in rugs or any thing yet…" Umi mumbled while rubbing her side where she collided with the floor.

"There's probs a place to buy rugs at the town." I comment.

"We can go after breakfast."

"Oh hell no, I am not making that walk for the fifth time this week!" Tsuru almost shouted.

"That's fine Tsuru, all the more decision making for us." Umi said, with an almost scary smile.

"Great, 'cause I'm gonna go back to sleep now." He nearly strutted out of the room.

"We should replace his jelly that he loves so much with the insides of cactus pears." I decided quietly.

"You're still not over that, are you?" Umi simply looked at me.

"Nope."

xXx

We made the trek to the town and found a small shop advertising rugs and carpets.

"We only need three rugs…" Umi trailed off while feeling a slightly bristly rug. We had successfully narrowed it down to four rugs. One that was mostly black with dark red lines and swirls all converging in the center, A solid purple one with blue trim, A pumpkin orange one with red and black lines only turning at sharp angles, and a circular blood red rug.

"They all fit the same color scheme except the purple one..." I trail off, looking at Umi.

"Yeah...But I like that one…" Umi looks at me pathetically.

"You can put it in your room, and I can put one in mine, one in the living room and one for Sh-Tsuru." I shrug.

"OK!" Umi nearly squealed.

xXx

"How are we going to carry these all the way back?" I groan under the weight of my two rugs.

"Yeah we should have thought of that before we bought them." Min-Umi agreed.

"You two need a ride?" An amiable looking young man asks from his perch atop the front of a wagon.

"Kinda." I say blankly. When I look over at Umi she raises an eyebrow. I shrug. We climb onto the wagon and sit there as the man steers his horse-drawn wagon out of town.

"Here's fine." I half shout over the horse's noise.

"Oh?" The man who's name as he told us is Tsuyoi raises an eyebrow.

"We're camping in the woods for a while and we got the rugs for souvenirs." The lies roll of my tongue.

"Interesting thing to buy for a souvenir." He raises his other eyebrow.

"We don't live very far from here." More lies.

"Okay." He pulls his wagon to a stop and hands me a slip of paper as I climb down.

"Here's my address if you ever need a ride again."

"Thank you for the ride Tsuyoi-san" Umi's voice sounded quietly.

xXx

"He was hitting on you." Umi fangirled.

"I doubt it." I frown at the paper; It wasn't booby trapped or anything.

"What do ya mean ya doubt it?" Umi Squinted and smiled bizarrely.

"I mean that I've been pretty sure that someone has been tracking us for the last two months." I frown even deeper.

"WAIT! What? Why didn't you tell me or Tsuru!?" Umi stopped walking I silence her with a glare. We continue walking in silence when she understands why I glared.

xXx

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS KNOW THINGS AND WE DON'T?!" Tsuru shouted.

"I'm intelligent, know how to listen and didn't want to alarm you until it was necessary." I glared at him.

"And when was that going to be?!" he was still agitated.

"Now" Umi chimed in neutrally

"We need a code phrase in case one of us senses them." Seriousness pervaded the room as Tsuru calmed down.

"How 'bout the cactus pear grew eyebrows, bitches" I suggested.

"No, not original enough, we already have pear and eyebrow related things." Umi brought sense to our table.

"Tengo mucha hambre?" The other shook their head at my third language.

"Tenor Saxophone?"

"Reed Flute?"

"Pamphlet?"

"Pineapple?"

"Hello my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father prepare to die?" They both furrow their eyebrows at my bizarre reference.

"CARNAGE!" They both jump at my frustrated shout.

"That one might actually work." Umi said with hints of approval as if appraising her own hammer, which she treated like her child.

xXx

"Which rug do you want Tsuru?" I gestured at the three rugs lying on the stone floor, Umi having already pranced off with her purple rug.

"I'll take the orange one." He grabbed and disappeared into the floor to take it up to his room in our complex system of caves. I put the blood red one in front of the couch, and hauled the last one up to my room.

xXx

"OI! GUYS!" I called up to my team members.

"WHAT?" they called back, nearly in unison.

"IMA GO TRAIN IN THE WOODS! IF YOU NEED SOMETHING YOU'LL BE ABLE TO FIND ME!" I yelled up the stairs.

"OH HELL NO, YOU ARE NOT LEAVING WITH SOMEONE TRACKING US!" Umi being sensible as always.

"WAIT!" Tsuru ran out of Umi's room and onto the landing.

"I made a big open room incase someone wanted to train! It's the door in the back of the closet! It doubles as a bunker!" He tripped over his words as they quickly fell from his lips.

"Okay!" I left to go find this room he spoke of.

The room was a large and mostly rectangular cavern with round edges and corners. It was completely empty save from the occasional oil lamp, the walls completely smooth and uniform. I sigh as I engulf myself with fire, returning to an almost primal version of myself. I quietly light a center lamp hanging from the ceiling, casting long shadows of various oil lamps across the floor and walls. I crouch, this time its the silky nearly fabric like consistency of shadows that engulfs me. My hair turns dark purple this time, with a similar shade in my eyes. I stand erect and allow my shadows to flow from my sleeves to sit in the air, a nearly impenetrable cloud of literal darkness. I practice manipulations and blending and melting myself into the shadows; it gets boring quickly without anyone to actually attack and soon I end it.

xXx

"WAKE THE FUCK UP! I GOT YOU BREAKFAST FROM TOWN!" I shout at my closest friends' sleeping figures, they had once again fallen asleep in each other's arms. Umi shoots up and falls off her bed while Tsuru continues to sleep peacefully. She slaps Tsuru, who opens his eyes and sighs.

"Happy joint birthday!" I smile idiotically.

"I got you breakfast from town, since as you know, I can't cook for shit." I maintain my idiotic smile.

"Ooh, what'd ya get us?" Tsuru seemed intrigued at the steaming brown paper bag.

"Steamed rice and miso soup in cute little containers!" I say this in a mock British accent.

"I also picked up some miso paste and normal rice, I noticed we didn't have any." I raise an eyebrow at Tsuru.

"Wait! That's not all I smell coming from that bag!" Tsuru sits up as I smile with mischief. Umi sniffs the air.

"ANPAN!" She nearly screams as she rushes over to me and runs off with the bag, closely followed by Tsuru. I chuckle to myself as I pull out an identical bag which really contains the anpan and stroll into the kitchen.

"OI! I HAVE THE ANPAN IN A DIFFERENT BAG!" I shout to them after taking a roll for my self and sitting down. I hear stomping getting closer to my location.

"MINE!" Umi grabs two rolls, leaving one for Tsuru, who comes in close at her heels and grabs the remaining roll.

"Well, you guys are fourteen then." I stare at the filling in my anpan.

"Mmhmm" Umi mumbles through her full mouth, eyes closed.

"Your birthday's in another month right?" Tsuru looks at me above his food.

"Yep. October 14th" I take another bite, and finish my role, while Umi stuffs her face into her second, and half of Tsuru's.

"You better eat up, Tsuru, or Umi will steal the rest." I raise my eyebrows and make a face.

"No fucking kidding." He holds his anpan to his chest protectively.

"Mine!"

xXx

_"__Your one of them…" The voice trailed off showing me pictures of every missing-nin from Konoha I knew. _

_ "__No, I'm not. People no longer know I exist. The person who's tracking us is probably not associated with the village." I answer back to the voice in the darkness. _

_ "__You have killed people." Now it just wants to feel bad. _

_ "__Only for a reason" I reply. _

_ "__You're insane"_

_ "__I DO NOT FEAR YOU! SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!' I shout to the void, the image of myself fades away into the omnipresent darkness…_

xXx

I wake up in a cold sweat. The small digital clock on my nightstand reads 12:42 A.M. Damn my insomnia. I hear shuffling outside my door and stealth-walk over to it so I can hear well. I hear muffled voices.

_"__Shhhhhh…we can't wake…"_

_ "__I know! I know! Stop nagging me!"_

_ "__Shut…" _Their conversation was nearly intelligible. I could tell if it was Umi and Tsuru or not, but they were not normally up at this hour.

I kicked down the door and shouted.

"CARNAGE!" The two figures jump at my sudden appearance. They are both carrying giant bags, restricting the view of their faces. Umi pokes her head out from behind her bag while Tsuru spews obscenities about how I shouldn't scare them like that.

"Says the people lurking outside my door in the middle of the night!" I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"Sorry 'bout waking you up." Umi says

"You didn't wake me up. I'm an insomniac; remember? It's my birthday. I hope to god those bags are either food or presents." I eye the bags curiously. Umi's looks bulkier than Tsuru's.

"Did you guys haul those all the way back from the market?" I worry about this answer.

"Nope! We got a ride from your boyfriend!" Umi gushed whiled Tsuru rolled his eyes.

"For the last time he is not my type, and why did you wake him up this late? Not to mention, I'm pretty sure he's been following us!" Umi looked disheartened.

"He was already awake and told us to tell you happy birthday when we told him why we were out so late...And what do you mean he's not your type!?" Always prioritizing, Umi was.

"Umi, I'm gay." I held a straight face

"What!? Why didn't you tell us!?" Tsuru's jaw dropped as Umi nearly screeched. I shrugged.

"Never came up in a conversation." I shrug again to punctuate my reply, and stroll into kitchen with them following, having regained their scarce composure.

"So what'd you guys get me?" I ask, curiously.

"Weapons, of course!" Umi smiled.

" as Tsuru once so aptly put it, that's not all I smell coming from that bag." My voice was singsong.

"What?" Umi sounded confused.

"I can smell your anpan, Umi." I looked at her and smiled sarcastically.

"IT'S MINE! YOU WILL NEVER GET IT!" She ran off with her precious sweet rolls, while Tsuru and I laid the weapons out on the table. They had not only gotten me better sheaths for everything, they also got me four more throwing daggers to fill my better sheath.

"Jesus. You guys did not have to do this for me." I breath, taking in the majesty that is more weapons.

"Bull shit. You got Umi anpan." Tsuru implies that this made him happy as well.

"Fair enough. With Umi anpan is life." I was barely exaggerating this statement.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"OI! You done yet, Senshi?" Tsuru sounded irritated at me taking so long. I sighed, I wanted to spend time with this, it's important to link with your weapons when you buy them. They have to be right for you.

"I'll be finished when I'm finished." I had my hair pulled back in a bun today, and my hood was down.

"So which one did you want Senshi-chan?" The polite old man running the weapons stall at the market had gotten to know me fairly well.

"These, please, Kajiya-san." I handed him two curved daggers and their sheaths.

"Nice choice, how are you going to carry them?" Apparently he had grown used to the fact that I carried my weapons around all the time.

"I thought I could sow the sheaths into my new boots." I smiled and handed him my money.

"I could probably do that." Tsuru had approached the booth now, carrying a rather large bag of general groceries. Umi herself had decided not to come on the grounds that we needed someone to stay and hold down our "fort".

"You two have a good day!" Kajiya-san waved us away as he bid us farewell. I turned my head back just enough to see him before being swallowed back into the mass of people. "You too, Kajiya-san!"

xXx

_There is nothing but emptiness, the space around me has nothing, but the edges there lies the imminent omnipresent tide of shadow, to save me from the nothingness. I am there, but I am not. There is no substance, only my thoughts. _

_I feel it now; the fear, slowly preying upon my conscious. At first it is just the small feeling of butterflies, soon it ascends into a nervous panic, then there is simply panic. now it can only be described as horror, the reaction to nothing. _

_Terror, it is terror now, full blown terror at nothing that can be perceived. Adrenaline rushes into my fear-drenched system; my mind is tearing itself into shreds as I experience what one could never call anything other than pure terror. _

xXx

"Damn, night terrors now to, huh." I mutter to myself, awake and out of my mind-prison. I slide onto the floor, landing crouching. I summon up my warrior-of-flames form and light the room utilizing my unique ability to summon flames. I hear my stomach grumble,

"I guess I'll need food if I'm going to be awake." I make my way to the kitchen, not caring if I am to awaken the "lovebirds" in the room over, as I clumsily stumble down the steps.

When I make it into the kitchen, I pull out an apple and sit down at the darkened island. As I eat, the juice drips onto the countertop. I finish my apple and throw away the core.

I hear the whoosh of a shinobi's jump. I dive behind the counter on the opposite side of the hallway and grab a kunai. I surround myself in my shadows creep over to get a better view of the hallway. I merge myself into the shadows and re-emerge in my sleeping friends' room. I lightly tap Umi's shoulder and hold a finger to my mouth when she raises her eyebrow. I motion to Tsuru's sleeping form and she nods understanding. I melt away and back into the kitchen where I can hear breathing, very soft breathing. I locate two Konoha ANBU crouched behind the island, where I was but moments before. Sensing my presence, they scatter into different sides of the room and throw kunai simultaneously. I emerge out of the shadows to block and counter their kunai with two of my own, they dodge and leave their hiding spots. All the muscles in my body tense as adrenaline floods my system. I send a shockwave through the room, colliding and bouncing off every object it meets and sending my attackers into the open. As soon as they roll up to their full heights, they rush me with katanas unsheathed. I meet the one's swords, battling his strength with my own as Tsuru engages the other one by dragging him underground.

"Suiton: Mizu Rampa!" The one I'm fighting shouts using one-handed hand signs. The room floods as I jump to the ceiling, and clears when I continue my own attack. I send shadows flying at the faceless bird-masked ANBU agent, while still fighting them with my sword.

"Rather impressive, but you showed your hand there." I smirk at my opponent. as they dance out of the way of my shadows while parrying my sword. I fake my opponent by distracting them with shadows as I pull a curved dagger out of my boot. I conceal it up my sleeve and continue to fight. I block, parry, counter, and attack until the opportune moment presents itself and I plunge my knife into the person's upper thigh. My attacker falls back and stumbles. They hold their sword still in an aggressive position as I make my way towards them. I swiftly hit my weakened adversary over the head, and slump into a chair as the adrenaline leaves my system, and I begin to feel the pain. An exhausted Tsuru appears beside me with Umi at his side, holding him up.

"What happened to your guy?" I ask them between breaths.

"Dead," came Tsuru's flat reply.

"Guess it wasn't the wagon guy following us after all." Umi's voice sounded tired.

"Nope. This ones out cold," I poke my opponent with the toe of my boot as I say this.

"We can question him when he wakes up." Umi replies, as she helps Tsuru into a chair.

"You hurt?" I am worried about Tsuru; it seems his fight was more difficult than mine.

"Yeah, that son of a bitch was an earth element user. Managed to land a few hits, but nothing serious. I'll live." He sighed as he slouched into the chair. "You?"

"Nah, I won the mother fucking fight without a fucking scratch. They can use hand signs with one hand though." I nod over to my adversary on the floor. Umi gave my statement an amused snort.

"If you guys wanna grab the stuff and find the wagon dude while I question them, you can." I would like to spare my friends from watching me question this person. Umi turns to Tsuru, "Can you walk?" She asks him.

"I'd rather tunnel, I can take all the stuff and you at the same time." He looks up at her. "Just lemme catch my breath."

As soon as my friends leave, I pull the bird mask off our attacker. Her face is surrounded by chin-length strands of black hair. I can hear their breath starting to speed as they wake up. Due to my impatient tendencies, I slap them. Her face snaps to the side, she lashes out, trying to bite my hand. I pin her left wrist with my hand, and her other wrist with my knee. I put my curved dagger against her neck, and wait for her to register the situation. She glares up at me with feral eyes; I can almost hear her growling.

"Who sent you?" My voice is cold and distant. In response, she spat at me. I press the knife a little harder into her neck. "Who sent you?" I ask again.

"Fuck you." If her eyes were feral before, they are damn feral now. I pick the knee I'm not using to restrain her, and slam it into the knife wound I gave her. I hear her yelp of pain as I put my knee back down. "Who sent you?" I use the exact same tone of voice as the last two times.

"Konoha, you dumb ass!" She spits as she speaks. I chuckle darkly.

"Do you know who I am?" She's not a rogue, and she's ANBU. She was probably sent by Danzou.

"You're Senshi, an anomaly for this area, and a threat to the town of Konoha." Her voice betrays no lie. In this state, she wouldn't be able to lie very proficiently.

"Where did your mission come from?" Same distant tone of voice as before.

"Where do you think, Bitch!" She shouts it at me; I pick my knee up and once again knee her wound. She appears close to fainting from blood loss. I press my knife closer to her neck. "Where did your mission come from?" I grit my teeth and growl at her, I'm losing my cool.

"It was assigned through the village, dumb ass!" She spat at me.

"For someone in your situation, you're talking an awful lot of trash." I smile a dark smile at her.

"I accepted the fact that I would die a long time ago." Her dark eyes scream death at me. She quickly sits up, cutting her own throat on my knife.

xXx

I run outside, where a half-asleep wagon driver sits on his wagon with my friends and stuff in the back. I had had just enough time to grab my own backpack of random scrolls and possessions before evacuating and burning the inside of everything that wasn't stone.

"You gonna collapse the place?" I speak in a painfully soft voice to Tsuru. He nods, I take it that he did when he could tell I was out. I jump up next to Tsuyoi-san, and nodded a greeting to the man.

I hear a whistle, the whistle of a flying projectile. "CARNAGE!" I shout the warning before taking evasive maneuvers, and rolling back behind the seat. I close my eyes as I hear a crunch, and when I look back, I'm covered in another person's blood.

**AN: Ooooooooo Cliff hanger**

**BET you can guess who died LOL**

**yes phoenix is insane thats the idea**

**don't worry the story gets funnier when we get to the part about the akatsuki, but that come later after way more sad shit**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Oooooooooo the unveiling of the cliff hanger, srru to make u wait longer than u had to I had the chappy typed, I didn't realized it was screwed up until 2 days(Ithink) after I published it ROFL!(It was all coded n stuff...I was kinda wondering if anyone who saw it could tell me what language it was...cuz I have absolutely no idea...It might've been java..but there weren't any brackets...couldn't have been python...there were semi-colons...and from the limited experience of html I have I can be fairly sure it was not that...**

Chapter 4

"Shit!" I exclaim at the sight of the crumpled body of the previous wagon driver. Tsuru reacts quickly and throws a shuriken at his attacker in the brush. I can hear the piece of sharpened metal connect with a person's body from my position. I turn my head and look back at Umi, her expression is difficult to read, she is struggling to keep her cool, in favor of horror.

"You alright, Tsunami?" I look at the girl I once could call Minko, she nearly looks startled at her new alias. "I'll be fine," I could see her shivering, from the winter cold or the loss of adrenaline, I am not sure.

"What about you, Tsuri?" I yell over to the boy I once called Shensu, who is inspecting the body. "I'm good, We're good. Let's take the wagon and get the fuck outta here." He jumps back into the wagon and hugs Tori as I shove the body out of the wagon and take the horse's reins.

"You alright, Kagemiko? You are the one covered in blood." Tsuru looks up from his girlfriends face, when I look back at him, he has his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I'm fine." There is no trace of emotion through the almost painful mask of stolidity in my voice. I flick the reins and wagon draws forward.

xXx

Tsuri takes extra black cloth from the last edits on my original coat, to make a new one. I turn around from my position at the front of the wagon in the late twilight.

"Do you think we could do half sleeves?" I ask him.

"Yeah, why?" He replies with a question as he looks up from his work and Tsunami's sleeping form.

"Never had half sleeves, seems less mysterious, and has a more 'Ima come over there and wreck you' look to it." I shrug through my words.

"Definitely starting to see the imminent tide of insanity now." He slowly nods five times while talking.

"It should go down to our knees instead of our ankles, too" I add, pointing the Tsuri's current sowing porject.

"Ok….I think that's about it, then." He hands me the finished cloak.

"We never did get to use our team name last time." I absent-mindedly mumble while I hand him his cloak back.

"Yeah." He snorts in amusement.

"When do you think she's gonna crash?" I completely changed the mood of the parked-wagon conversation with my question.

"When do you think any of us are going to crash?" He looks at me with his eyebrows drawn together in concern. "I mean, we witnessed two deaths each, I don't think anyone really understands what our position is here." He looks away now, in favor of gazing at his sleeping beauty. I stay silent. "What are we going to do?" He looks back at me now; eyes wide as saucers, as if he were a child.

"I don't know.

xXx

"Good job, Tsuri." I can hear Tsunami's small, feminine voice sound behind me as she takes in the new cave.

"It's identical to the last one." I look at Tsuri with my one eyebrow raised. He shrugged, "The last one worked...for the most part."

"Where are we going to shop?" I ask.

"There's a town that has a market every week not to far from here," came Tsunami's timid voice.

"When's the next market day?" Tsuri asks, finished surveying his work.

"Tomorrow." She answers.

"Alright, Tsuri, did you make room for the horse and wagon?" I look over at him. He opens his mouth to reply, "Yeah, there's a small room for the wagon, the horse I'm not sure we can take care of, especially with our shitty money supply." I shrug.

"I have a few summoning scrolls that we can look at and see if there's something that would work for pulling a wagon, or just riding." I turn and start walking out of the room, the others do the same. The same thought pervades the cave. Sleep.

xXx

Tsuri closed the hidden door behind us as we stepped into the beautifully gloomy outdoors. The sky was overcast in winter gloom while small snowflakes made contact with their surrounding and the dry air. We walk about a mile along a dirt road through dead trees frozen brush. The air is silent. We reach the generally familiar and comforting clamor a marketplace and walk indifferently and neutrally into the small village. I watch Tsunami's and Tsuri's edited cloaks disappear from my view point as I make my way to the weapons and scrolls portion of the market. The summoning scrolls I had in my possession contained turtles, tortoises, and terrapin. I planned on selling them to the person running the weapons stall, and making use of the otherwise useless scrolls.

The familiar glint of metal and polished stone caught my eye as I passed a stand selling katanas and their sheaths. My own was high caliber, steel with a black and white handle. A read tassel hung at the end, the handle stuck out of my black polished sheath. My sheaths and handles other than my katana, were all black and somewhat shiny. I had asked Tsuri to sow sheaths for my various kunai and shuriken into my cloak, so that I could reach them more easily.

I approach the amiable looking middle-aged man running the summoning scrolls stand. Group of amateur ninja wander this part of the market, bearing their alliances obviously. I have none, and therefore they stare.

"Ohayo." I greet the seller. I set the three scrolls down on the counter and wait while he looks over them.

"Where did you get this one?" His voice sounds as if he's chewing on something. He holds the terrapin-summoning scroll above his head and raises his eyebrows, "I didn't even know something like this existed." He sets it down next to the other two. "What do you want for it?" He asks.

"My friends and I are looking for summons that would allow travel or the pulling of a wagon." My voice keeps casual. He pulls out three scrolls and says, "One for water, land, and air!" He hands them to me excitedly. He then rushes to grab the other three scrolls while shoving the ones he previously owned into my hands.

"Have a nice day!" He shouts above the clamor while running to the other side of the counter to help another customer.

xXx

_ I can feel my face move, but I cannot control it. My eyes are wide, my mouth curves upward, attempting to split my face if it were to stretch any further. I stare down at my bloody hands, still holding the knife. _

_ I slowly degenerate into giggle, then howling madman's laughter. I roll on the floor where the bodies of my victims lay, bloody and cut to pieces in horrifying ways. _

xXx

I awake to the feeling of a warm wetness on my face; I hold my hand to my cheek to find that the substance is tears. When was the last time I had cried? Perhaps it was when I found out my parents had been killed. Now that I think back on the time of when I had lived in the Konoha streets, even my union with Minko and Shensu, I cant remember it. I remember it happened, but not the specifics. It's as if someone has taken my memories of the far past and wrapped them in gauze. Part of me wonders about if it were something that the Konoha ANBU did to protect the villages secrecy when we left, though it easily makes the most sense to my situation, there is part of me, so deep in my gauze-wrapped sub-conscious that I can barely feel it that protests. I give into the feeling of helplessness and feel more liquid stream down my face, salty on my parched lips. I attempt to clench my fist, and find that my muscles are weak for the lack of sleep and energy. I lie there, for what seems like ages, staring at my ceiling fan, making lazy loops around and around and around….

I sit up and slide out of bed to find food and distractions in the overly large hideout Tsuri has built us. No matter how much I pretend like I know, one question presses on my mind,

_Who am I? _

**AN: IDK if u guys noticed but this choppy was kinda screwy SO I FIXED IT! IN other news identity issues! will be explained n stuff at end !THANKYOU! FORYOUR FAVORITE LightCreatesTheShadowLullaby!ALL I could think was:**

**OMFGOMFGOMFGOMFGIGOTAFOVORITEICANTBELIEVEIGOTAFAVORTIEOMFGOMFGOMFG**

**If you guessed it was the wagon driver, good job...I feel like it was kinda PREDICTABLE!(I shout that when watching tV and something PREDICTABLE HAPPENS!) W00T!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I sighed, relaxing my muscles and surrendering to the cold air around me. I could feel the sting of the cold air down my throat as I inhaled and exhaled. How could my past fade from me? Why did I not understand what was going? How could I even let this happen?

I tightened my already pained expression as I looked back down at the road and began traveling again. Tsunami had fallen ill, it was my job to retrieve medicine from town to reduce her fever. It felt good to escape our hideout, all the thoughts of my mind since Konoha felt as if they were going to force my mind to implode, simply to relieve themselves of their own weight.

I suddenly flung my arms out in front of my previously distracted face, attempting to catch my falling body. I had slipped on a small patch of ice, sending me cascading downwards. I landed, but in the process I had twisted my ankle beyond what would be good for me to make the rest of the walk with.

"God dammit! Why the hell did I have to fall, this trip can't be fucking delayed!" I cursed as I felt the throbbing pain above my foot. I pulled the satchel that I had slung over my shoulder in front of to find my summoning scrolls. I pulled one out with numb fingers and unrolled it to see what it would summon. Only two contracts had been made with this summon, so it had to be fairly rare. As I continued to study the scroll, I found that it would summon a large sea serpent. Shoving it back into the bag and pulling out another one, I realized that it would be perfect for Tsunami to summon. As I opened up the next scroll I couldn't help but utter a noise of awe as I realized that It summoned large cats. Big cats. Insanely fast, incredibly dangerous, animals that look totally badass when ridden. I set it down on top of some of the overflow of coat fabric next to my knees in the snow.

The last scroll I pulled out I knew had to be something that flew. The seller said one for water, land, and air, so assuming that I'm not an idiot, this one should fly. I opened it slowly. I was worried I would rip it from my numb, clumsy hands being unable to handle it carefully. I soon found the script that said that this particular scroll belonged to dragons. That was even more badass than big cats. I shoved the scroll for the cats back into the bag and quickly bit my thumb. I pressed the blood from my thumb into my other fingers, causing a few drops of blood to drip into the snow, dyeing it scarlet. I signed my supposed birth name and pressed all of my fingertips into the scroll.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" I shout; making the hand signs that I remember from living on the streets. White smoke fills the air as a large animal is summoned from wherever its normal habitat is, the stench of the smoke fills my head until it clears, leaving me smelling as if I were on fire. I shield my eyes with my arm as a large, terrifyingly large _dragon _appears before my crumpled form.

I can't help myself from mumbling, "This is so fucking awesome." I watch in awe as the giant black dragon turns it's head towards my voice, fixing me with its green-eyed gaze. I continue to stare at it, it's expression doesn't change while smoke curls from it's nostrils. Finally, after what only seemed seconds to me, it furrows its eyebrow in an almost human-like manner.

"You seem familiar, somehow." It's voice booming through the air, rough and gravely. "Phoenix?" It tilts its head to the side like a bird. I scramble back; startled at the use of my name, and hurting my ankle in the process.

"Itai!" I yelp, clutching my injured ankle. It opens its mouth to speak again. "Are you hurt?" It lowers its head to the ground, leveling it's eyes with mine.

"That's why I summoned you, I need a ride." I smile painfully. I open my mouth to speak again, "How did you know my real name?" I lower my gaze to the snow.

"I'm not sure, it just seemed right, like I was recognizing an old friend." He lifts his head back up and sits down, lowering his back enough for me to sort-of climb on. I claw my way on top of its back and sit at the base of his neck between the neck spikes. "Either way, call me Kagemiko for now. What should I call you?" I look at the top of its head.

"Shuriken" the name sounds comforting and familiar, like an old friend.

xXx

I revel in the thought that I don't have to worry about the sting of the cold wind. I had encased both me and Shuriken in an enormous flame-sphere, protecting us from the wind and keeping us warm. I admit to nearly falling asleep a few times, and almost expelling the flames. We began to descend; I could see the town in the distance. When we reach the ground, we are a minute's walk from the town, and civilian help. I allow Shuriken to walk a few paces and carry me closer before I slide off of his back and land, immediately crouching onto the uninjured leg's knee. I claw my way back to a standing position using Shuriken's side for leverage. Shuriken looks at me guiltily as he watches me struggle.

"Sure you don't want me to carry you the rest of the way?" His voice growls through the air. I limp over to a tree and reply, "Yeah thanks for flying me this far. I can summon you again once I finish getting meds for my friends."

"Your ankle should take priority." He looks at me, eyes as big as my fist.

"If someone is selling meds then they'll be able to bind my ankle." I look up at the sky as the pain in my ankle peaks. "Dammit, I think it's swelling." I curse as I start limping towards the town. I see the dragon grimace before poofing back to his original home.

I eventually get creative enough to attempt to use my shadows as a sort of crutch, getting far enough to be helped to a medic's house close-by.

The young man who helped me here soon leaves me with the town medic, trusting in their ability to bind my ankle.

A young, skinny and average sized man appears with a roll of bandages and a crutch for my ankle.

"Your ankle should be fine, should heal in a few weeks." He smiles at me as he finishes binding my injured foot.

"Thanks, I'm Kagemiko, what about you?" I smile back at him.

"Kagemiko huh? interesting name you have their. I'm Aida Yasukazu." He hands me my crutch, "That all you need?"

"Well I originally made the trip here because one of my friends is sick, and we kinda need meds for her." I follow him across the room to the shelf with the herbs and medicine.

"Well that's too bad about your friend, what are her symptoms?" he asks, looking over his shoulder at me.

"Fever, coughing, sore throat, congestion, chills, fatigue, and headaches." I count them on my fingers and turn back to him.

"Sounds like she has the flu, take these, they'll help with symptom relief, but there's not much else we can do. She'll recover on her own time." He hands a small bag of herbs, a tag hangs on the front of the bag with instructions.

"Thanks Yasukazu-san" I exit into the snow.

xXx

It takes me ten minutes to get a safe enough distance from the village to summon Shuriken.

"Your back," the dragon remarks. "How's your ankle?" He looks slightly worried.

"It's good, should heal soon. More importantly, I got the meds for Tsunami." I clamber onto his back and sit with my crutch held in my lap. "Shall we then?" I look down at where his face would be if I could see it.

"We shall."

xXx

I slowly drifted into an unstable sleep, clinging to Shuriken's back with my chakra. When I finally fall completely asleep, I soon jolt awake, realizing there was no wind to hit my face. I look over at the friendly black dragon and nearly fall in surprise.

"Holy shit," I say, out-loud. The dragon was breathing fire and forming a sort of windshield.

"Thanks for that." I mumble, quickly falling back asleep.

xXx

I slide to the ground, catching myself on my good foot and my crutch. Shuriken returned to his normal environment, clouding the air with smoke. I cough two times and wave away the annoying white clouds from my face as I awkwardly make my way to the hidden door of the base.

I reach a discreet location in the surrounding forest where I pound the side of my fist into a rock, resulting in a surprisingly hollow noise.

An exhausted looking Tsuri answers the door, having been up all night he soon collapses on the couch, comforted by my return.

I read the instructions on the medicine, and quickly bring a pot of water to boiling with my flames.

As soon as I have her tea, I walk into her room with the mug and the sea serpent summoning scroll in my hands. I gently close the door behind me, leaving the room dark enough to make me stop and let my eyes adjust before I can move to beside Tsunami's bed.

"Senshi...no that's not right, Kagemiko is back." She stared at me, "Why is Kagemiko back?" I help her sit up and hand her the tea.

"You should feel better soon, this tea will help get rid of some of your symptoms." I speak quietly, "And this scroll is for summoning Sea serpents, you should make a contract when you're feeling better." I exit the room, leaving the scroll on top of her dresser.

I shake Tsuri's shoulder to wake him; he opens one of his eyes at me and soon closes it, sighing. "What do you want Kagemiko?"

"To give this to you, it summons big cat cats, have fun." I say, leaving a once again sleeping Tsuri on the couch and the summoning scroll one the coffee table. I make my way to my room, my crutch making an annoyingly audible sound every time it hits the floor, I'm surprised Tsuri didn't notice it or my injured foot. I sit on my bed with my foot elevated by a blanket, and rifle through my shoulder bag for a small wooden box. I grasp the object I was looking for and pull it out, flicking the clasp open.

I slowly lift the lid, nearly flinching at the contents. I had thought that perhaps they could help me better remember my past, but looking at them now, all I can remember is a vague outline of our story up to when we met Kakashi-Sensei. We didn't really feel like missing-nin then, but now, we were hunted. Is this why the third had been so hesitant? Were we to be hunted down like this so we did not attract attention? Perhaps Konoha felt that they could not kill their own shinobi, and we were to be missing so that we could be hunted down more efficiently. Memories of us had been erased, so why would they care? We hadn't done anything. The ANBU I interrogated didn't know anything then our previous identities. Who ever the orders came from must have known at least a portion of what happened.

I sigh as I pull the black headband out of the box, a reflection on the metal showing my saddened face distorted by the Konoha leaf. I pull a kunai out of coat and twirl it around my finger for a few seconds in contemplation before making up my mind and dragging the sharp end across the headband, making my separation from my supposed hometown final.

**AN: ZOMG I kinda went on Hiatus...sorry about that. Heres chapter five! and the real one! I had a really weird dream that I had written another fanfic that centered around Kakashi, and It got like huge amount of reviews to, and their was a sequel and everything...weird huh?**

**Review?**


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys,

This is the author speaking, and I'm really sorry bout this, but I'm going to be on hiatus for a while. I'll still write poetry when I feel like it, and I'm still going to work on chapter 6 of 'The sarcastic, Depressing, and Other Adventures of This Is An Alias', but I will be very slow and probably won't post them for a while. This is due to the fact that my friend is depressed, and I have absolutely no idea how to deal with it. she did tell me that she had pondered suicide, but she wasn't going to follow through due to her insane fear of death(she is an atheist, but she's been harassed about it for a really long time, her worst fear is the she will die and go to hell.) She saw the school counselor, who instead of saying 'You need to take this medication, and need a psychiatrist.' said something along the lines of, 'You have made a couple big mistakes, you need to be more careful.' (THIS INFURIATED ME! I MEAN GOD DAMNIT, MY FRIEND MIGHT BE SUICIDAL AND YOU'RE TELLING HER TO BE MORE CAREFUL? WHAT THE FUCK?!) If anyone knows how the hell I'm supposed to react, especially because she is convinced everyone hates her, is lonely, is an introvert, and I'm pretty sure she only really trust me, you can shoot me a PM. Another thing that makes this difficult, is that even though it is extremely difficult to tell, (which I do on purpose) I myself am kinda depressed, have been since 5th grade.

-Yamgirl(the ego to Phoenix's id)


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